The area of our brain responsible for language and speech functions is located in the left brain lobe. Sometimes, the brain area responsible for language and speech is damaged after brain hemorrhage/occlusion or accidental head trauma. In such cases, a speech disorder/loss called "aphasia" occurs.
A person who had no problems with speaking before becomes unable to speak. Or he speaks, but what he says is incomprehensible, making it impossible to communicate verbally with the person. Most of the time, along with "speaking", "writing", "calculating" and "understanding" skills may also be impaired.
Sometimes aphasia goes away on its own. In some cases, aphasia needs to be treated. Aphasias are treated with “speech therapy”. Speech therapy treatment is similar to physical therapy in terms of functioning. The patient with aphasia is examined by the speech therapist and a special exercise program is prepared for him. Speech therapy is applied to the patient periodically. At the same time, the patient should work out the exercise program prepared for him/her with a family member every day. The patient's relative is taught practically how the exercises should be done. Regularly applying the prepared exercise program is very important for treatment. Aphasia treatment takes time and patience is required. Compensation for the damage to the patient's speech area occurs slowly.
After speech therapy, some patients can talk just like before. Sometimes, no matter how much speech therapy the patient receives, his speaking skills are not as good as before. He can only talk enough to continue his daily life and have short conversations with his relatives. The degree of damage to the brain determines how much of the speaking ability will be regained. The young age of the patient is an advantage for treatment. However, older patients can also regain their speaking skills if they make the necessary effort.
When Can I Start Speech Disorder Treatment?
Most of the time, the patient's ability to "understand" is impaired along with his/her speaking ability. However, the loss of this ability to understand is temporary; the patient's ability to understand spontaneously returns to its previous state after a while. & nbsp;In order to apply aphasia treatment, comprehension skills must be in good condition. It can be observed whether the patient watches television to evaluate his/her comprehension skills. A person who does not have good comprehension skills cannot follow what he watches on television and gets bored of watching television. Or the patient may be asked questions with one-word answers.
For example; Does stone float in water? Is an apple a fruit? Is Ankara the capital of Turkey? Questions such as these may be asked. If the patient sometimes answers correctly and sometimes incorrectly to such questions, the patient may not fully understand what is being said. In such cases, it is necessary to give the patient time to restore his/her understanding skills. Speech therapy begins when the patient begins to answer questions with one-word answers correctly.
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